A few weeks ago, I interrupted my regular routine of powerlifting workouts to run a half marathon.
I raced it all-out, and woke up the next day with a killer case ofdelayed onset muscle soreness.
And it felt nice and easy, thanks to RPE.
RPE stands for rating of perceived exertion, and its used a few different ways in fitness.
(You may be familiar with theBorg scalefor judging how hard youre working during cardio, for instance.)
Thats a 10, the top of the scale.
It doesnt matter how many reps were in the set.
This is an all out max effort.
RPE 9 - you could have just barely done one more rep, but you didnt.
The work you did felt really, really hard.
RPE 8 - you could have done two more reps.
This was a hard set but not killer.
RPE 7 - you could have done three more reps.
This set wasnt particularly challenging.
You put in the work, you finished, now youre ready for more.
RPE 6 - you could have done four more reps.
This wasnt a hard set at all.
Below a 6, its not really worth rating RPE.
How to use workouts that are written for RPE
Whats the point of RPE?
My weights were lower that day than they would be normally, but thats fine.
With RPE-based workouts, ups and downs are expected as you listen to your body.
(Your weights will still trend upwards over time.)
First, you have to know what one more rep in the tank feels like.
Theres no way to learn that besides experience.
It takes a little getting used to.
Feedback from a coach or friend can help.
I video my lifts to send to an online coach, and its even eye-opening to watch them myself.
According to the calculator, a reasonable weight would be 175.
